[Math] Is any countable set a metric space

general-topologymetric-spaces

As per the definition of metric space (Rudin):
Rudin's definition of metric spaces
Here is what I understand: Any countable set $A$ can be mapped 1-1 to the set of natural numbers. Let $n(x)$ be the natural number to which any element $x$ belonging to $A$ is mapped. Define the distance function, $ d(p,q) = |n(p) – n(q)|$ for any element $p$ and $q$ belonging to A. This satisfies conditions $ (a),(b)$ and $(c) $. Therefore any countable set should be a metric space.

Is there another way to reason this?

Best Answer

This is a bit tricky. A countable set is just that: a set. A metric space is a set equipped with some distance function. What you have shown is that for any countable set, there exists some metric on that countable set. But there are plenty of metrics on that set, and not all of them are "equivalent" (homeomorphic for example).

For example you could have put the discrete metric on your set by letting $d(x,x) = 0$ and $d(x,y) = 1$ for $x \neq y$. This satisfies all the axioms of a metric. In fact this works for any set, not only countable ones. But you could also have chosen a bijection between your set and $\{0\} \cup \{1/n \mid n \ge 1\}$, and use this bijection to define a metric. The possibilities are endless.

So to reiterate, I think the key point is: a set is just a set. Any set (including countable ones) can be equipped with some metric. Different metrics yield different metric spaces. So it's not really fair to say that "any countable set is a metric space": what is true is that any countable set can be equipped with some metric.

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